1. One more West Coast photo-op. Just hours after celebrating Sidney Crosby's gold-medal goal and sitting together at the Olympic Winter Games closing ceremony last night, Stephen Harper and Gordon Campbell are together again.
The Prime Minister Harper and B.C. Premier are expected to announce this morning about $35-million in provincial-related infrastructure projects including spending for highways and roads.
They will be joined by Treasury Board President Stockwell Day, the senior minister for British Columbia, Heritage Minister James Moore, who also represents a riding just outside of Vancouver, and other members of the federal B.C. caucus.
The announcement comes just days before the federal budget is to be delivered in Ottawa. It will focus on job creation and the second year of the stimulus infrastructure spending, but Conservative ministers are signaling that money is tight and spending must be reduced.
The budget follows the Throne Speech, which will open Parliament on Wednesday after the Prime Minister's controversial decision to prorogue until the Olympics wrapped up. After two weeks of unprecedented showing of pride and patriotism, it will be interesting to see if that feeling is transported into the House of Commons - or whether it's back to name-calling and bad behaviour.
Meanwhile, Mr. Campbell is unveiling his own provincial budget tomorrow in Victoria. Will he have come down from his Olympic high? And will he take off the red Olympic mittens that have been attached to his hands for the past two weeks?
2. Back to their favourite sport. Did anyone go to bed last night thinking about prorogation, polls or anything remotely political? The trick for the Conservative government and opposition this week is to wake Canadians from their Olympic slumber and get them to care about the Throne Speech, the budget and the return of Question Period.
The immediate pressure on the government is the $11-million upcoming funding gap in Own The Podium, the program credited with a strong, gold-laden Canadian performance at the Olympics. With the country basking in athletic glory and critics calling for more sports funding, will the government take action?
On Wednesday, the focus will be on Governor-General Michaëlle Jean, who will read what could be her last Speech from the Throne. Expect a thought for Haiti, given that Ms. Jean is scheduled to visit the country next week.
Come Thursday, on budget day, the big question will be about the country's $56-billion deficit - a shortfall that is more than 5,000 times bigger than the one afflicting Own The Podium. Once the plan is tabled, the Prime Minister will have to explain why he prorogued Parliament last December to craft a budget that is likely to contain little in the way of new programs.
He'll also have to face questions he sought to avoid by parliamentary shutdown about what government officials knew about the possible torture of detainees transferred by Canadian troops to Afghan prisons. The government has pledged to quickly reconstitute the Commons committee investigating the matter.
On top of that, the Conservatives must respond to calls from all three three opposition parties to revisit its choice of Gérard Latullipe to head Rights and Democracy. Although it is unclear whether it will have any lasting political impact, the troubled arms-length agency is suddenly on map, especially in Quebec. Influence Communication, which monitors media content around the world, says Rights and Democracy garnered three times more attention in the province between Jan. 7 and Feb. 24 than it did in all of 2009.
3. Women behaving badly. Glen Pearson is a very thoughtful Liberal MP from London, Ont. He's ticked off at the criticism of the women's hockey team for celebrating with cigars and beer. And he's also angered by the musings from the International Olympic Committee about taking women's hockey out of the Games because it's not competitive enough.
"Sure, they won a gold medal for hockey in a pretty exciting game, but they are supposed to show restraint because they're … well, they're women!" he wrote in his blog. "Give me a break! At least they weren't pounding on security doors or throwing their skates at guards!"
He is of course referring the recent meltdown by Helena Guergis, the Conservative minister of state for the status of women. The Liberals are demanding she be removed from her cabinet post as a result of the tantrum.
(Photo: The Prime Minister and B.C. Premier help wrap up the Olympics during last night's closing ceremony in Vancouver. Jim Young/Reuters)